hyprland-wiki/pages/Configuring/Master-Layout.md

The master layout makes one (or more) window(s) be the "master", taking (by default) the left part of the screen, and tiles the rest on the right. You can change the orientation on per-workspace basis if you want to use anything other than the default left/right split.

Config

category name master

name	description	type	default
allow_small_split	enable adding additional master windows in a horizontal split style	bool	false
special_scale_factor	(0.0 - 1.0) the scale of the special workspace windows	float	1
mfact	(0.0 - 1.0) master split factor, the ratio of master split	float	0.55
new_is_master	whether a newly open window should replace the master or join the slaves.	bool	true
new_on_top	whether a newly open window should be on the top of the stack	bool	false
no_gaps_when_only	whether to apply gaps when there is only one window on a workspace, aka. smart gaps. (default: disabled - 0) no border - 1, with border - 2	int	0
orientation	default placement of the master area, can be left, right, top, bottom or center	string	left
inherit_fullscreen	inherit fullscreen status when cycling/swapping to another window (e.g. monocle layout)	bool	true
always_center_master	when using orientation=center, keep the master window centered, even when it is the only window in the workspace.	bool	false
smart_resizing	if enabled, resizing direction will be determined by the mouse's position on the window (nearest to which corner). Else, it is based on the window's tiling position.	bool	true
drop_at_cursor	when enabled, dragging and dropping windows will put them at the cursor position. Otherwise, when dropped at the stack side, they will go to the top/bottom of the stack depending on new_on_top.	bool	true

Dispatchers

layoutmsg commands:

command	description	params
swapwithmaster	swaps the current window with master. If the current window is the master, swaps it with the first child.	either master (new focus is the new master window), child (new focus is the new child) or auto (which is the default, keeps the focus of the previously focused window)
focusmaster	focuses the master window.	either master (focus stays at master, even if it was selected before) or auto (which is the default, if the current window is the master, focuses the first child.)
cyclenext	focuses the next window respecting the layout	none
cycleprev	focuses the previous window respecting the layout	none
swapnext	swaps the focused window with the next window respecting the layout	none
swapprev	swaps the focused window with the previous window respecting the layout	none
addmaster	adds a master to the master side. That will be the active window, if it's not a master, or the first non-master window.	none
removemaster	removes a master from the master side. That will be the active window, if it's a master, or the last master window.	none
orientationleft	sets the orientation for the current workspace to left (master area left, slave windows to the right, vertically stacked)	none
orientationright	sets the orientation for the current workspace to right (master area right, slave windows to the left, vertically stacked)	none
orientationtop	sets the orientation for the current workspace to top (master area top, slave windows to the bottom, horizontally stacked)	none
orientationbottom	sets the orientation for the current workspace to bottom (master area bottom, slave windows to the top, horizontally stacked)	none
orientationcenter	sets the orientation for the current workspace to center (master area center, slave windows alternate to the left and right, vertically stacked)	none
orientationnext	cycle to the next orientation for the current workspace (clockwise)	none
orientationprev	cycle to the previous orientation for the current workspace (counter-clockwise)	none
orientationcycle	cycle to the next orientation from the provided list, for the current workspace	allowed values: left, top, right, bottom, or center. The values have to be separated by a space. If left empty, it will work like orientationnext
mfact	change mfact, the master split ratio	the new split ratio, a float between 0.0 and 1.0

params for the commands are separated by a single space

{{< hint type=info >}} example usage:

bind=MOD,KEY,layoutmsg,cyclenext
# behaves like xmonads promote feature (https://hackage.haskell.org/package/xmonad-contrib-0.17.1/docs/XMonad-Actions-Promote.html)
bind=MOD,KEY,layoutmsg,swapwithmaster master

{{< /hint >}}

Workspace Rules

layoutopt rules:

rule	description	type
orientation:[o]	Sets the orientation of a workspace. For available orientations, see Config->orientation	string

Example usage:

workspace = 2, layoutopt:orientation:top